Versatile red salsa will upgrade your cooking repertoire

Building a repertoire of go-to dishes is an important part of getting comfortable in the kitchen.

Just as important, though, is having a rotation of elements that can be worked into a variety of other dishes - sauces, garnishes, proteins.

One of the most versatile sauces you’ll find is a red salsa, or salsa roja. Sure, you can dip chips in it, but that’s only the beginning. Use it as a sauce for enchiladas. Shred chicken in it for tacos. Drizzle it over chilaquiles, nachos or fried or scrambled eggs. Stir it into rice. Build a soup or stew base.

For a recipe, I turned to Pati Jinich, the Washington-area cookbook author, chef and host of “Pati’s Mexican Table” on public television. Jinich had already given us a stellar salsa verde (green salsa) recipe, and, as expected, her salsa roja is a winner, too.

Because the ingredients are boiled and then cooked down, the salsa tastes great even with store-bought, notquite-in-season tomatoes. Canned tomatoes are often suggested as an alternative to out-of-season ones, but I still found that this sauce tasted sweeter and brighter than a similar recipe I made with canned.

Don’t be afraid to adjust the seasoning to your taste, either. Fresh, chopped cilantro can be stirred in before serving, for example. Or add some complementary dried spices to taste, such as cumin, chili powder or ground chipotle.

The generous yield and relatively long shelf life of this recipe mean you have every reason to keep a batch in your refrigerator at all times.